Chapter 13 - Vincent’s Betrayal
Nobody understood the wink except Salvatore.
When they were boys, Vincent had used it before doing something reckless.
Stealing their father’s Cadillac.
Putting firecrackers in Dominic’s bedroom.
Jumping from a bridge into water neither of them had checked for rocks.
One wink.
Then chaos.
“Vincent’s not with him,” Salvatore said.
Sloan stared.
“He just delivered a key fragment.”
“He delivered a fake.”
Mrs. Alvarez looked at her wrist.
“No.”
Salvatore turned.
“You said Elena cut the key into three pieces.”
“Yes.”
“Would she trust a single physical key?”
Mrs. Alvarez hesitated.
Then smiled slowly.
“No.”
Gabriel was watching.
Salvatore crouched.
“The piece around your neck—is it magnetic?”
“Yes.”
“Mrs. Alvarez’s?”
“Yes.”
“Dominic’s?”
Gabriel nodded.
Salvatore stood.
“They align to create a specific magnetic pattern. A copied brass shape won’t work.”
Sloan’s expression changed.
“So Vincent took her fragment to build trust.”
“Exactly.”
The video remained live.
Vittorio inserted two fragments and Vincent’s stolen piece into a circular slot.
Nothing happened.
Vittorio frowned.
He tried again.
Nothing.
Then slowly turned toward Vincent.
“You.”
Vincent lifted his gun.
“Yes.”
Dominic laughed from the floor.
Even injured, the sound carried satisfaction.
“You always underestimated the stupid one.”
Vincent fired.
Not at Vittorio.
At the overhead lights.
Darkness.
The video feed shook.
Salvatore was already moving.
“Bank. Now.”
Sloan followed.
“No, you stay with Gabriel.”
Salvatore stopped.
“Excuse me?”
“Vittorio still needs his fragment. If you bring Gabriel there, you finish his plan for him.”
Gabriel pulled Salvatore’s sleeve.
“She’s right.”
Salvatore hated how often people were right today.
“I’m not leaving you.”
“You’re not.”
Gabriel pointed toward Sloan.
“I stay with her.”
Salvatore looked at the federal agent.
She understood the responsibility being handed to her.
“I’ll protect him.”
“If you fail—”
“I know. There will be dramatic consequences.”
Carmine almost laughed.
Salvatore leaned close to Gabriel.
“I’ll come back.”
The boy’s face became serious.
“You promise?”
“Yes.”
“You said promises matter.”
“They do.”
“Then go get Uncle Vincent.”
Salvatore froze at the word uncle.
Gabriel seemed embarrassed.
Salvatore touched the back of his head once.
Then left.
At the bank, chaos had swallowed the underground level.
Two guards dead.
One federal informant wounded.
Dominic bleeding.
Vittorio gone.
Vincent sat against the wall holding his shoulder.
Salvatore reached him.
“You winked.”
Vincent laughed through pain.
“You noticed.”
“I almost killed you anyway.”
“Reasonable.”
“Where is Father?”
“Elevator shaft.”
Salvatore’s eyes sharpened.
“He got it open?”
“Not the vault elevator. Maintenance access.”
Carmine approached Dominic.
“Alive?”
Dominic groaned.
“Unfortunately.”
Salvatore looked at him.
Dominic had helped destroy thirteen years of his life.
Yet seeing him wounded still stirred something old and unwelcome.
Brotherhood did not disappear cleanly.
“Why did Father need you?” Salvatore asked.
Dominic looked up.
“My key piece.”
“And?”
“Something else.”
“What?”
Dominic laughed bitterly.
“You’re going to love this.”
“Speak.”
“The archive isn’t Vittorio’s.”
Salvatore frowned.
“It was Mother’s.”
Silence.
Their mother, Isabella Moretti, had died nineteen years ago.
Vincent stared.
“That’s impossible.”
Dominic shook his head.
“Father collected blackmail to control criminals. Mother copied it to protect victims.”
Salvatore remembered her.
Elegant.
Quiet.
The only person Vittorio occasionally feared.
“Elena found Mother’s copies,” Dominic said.
“And added to them?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She planned to destroy the trafficking network from inside.”
Salvatore closed his eyes.
Elena had not merely run.
She had spent thirteen years building a case.
Alone.
While raising their son.
The weight of that nearly crushed him.
“Why didn’t you help her?”
Dominic looked away.
“I was too busy becoming Father.”
That answer held more truth than Salvatore expected.
Dominic continued.
“Seven years ago, I captured Elena because Father ordered me to. I was supposed to kill her.”
Salvatore’s gun came up instantly.
Dominic did not flinch.
“I didn’t.”
“Why?”
“I saw Gabriel.”
Salvatore stopped.
“He was six months old. She was holding him.”
Dominic’s voice broke slightly.
“I couldn’t kill the mother of my brother’s child.”
“So you let her escape.”
“Yes.”
“And lied to Father.”
“Yes.”
“Then spent seven years helping him?”
“I’m not asking forgiveness.”
“Good.”
“I’m telling you why he wants the archive.”
“What’s inside?”
Dominic looked at Sloan, who had just arrived through the stairwell.
Enough people were now present that the truth could no longer be contained.
“A record of every official Vittorio paid to protect the trafficking routes.”
Sloan went still.
“Names?”
“Hundreds.”
“Current?”
“Yes.”
“Federal?”
“Yes.”
“How high?”
Dominic looked directly at her.
“Your deputy director.”
Sloan’s face changed.
Then her phone rang.
She looked at the screen.
Deputy Director Harold Price.
Nobody spoke.
The phone rang again.
Gabriel was supposed to be under federal protection arranged through Price’s office.
Sloan’s face went white.
She answered.
“Sir?”
A calm male voice responded.
“Agent Sloan. We’ve secured the boy.”
She stared at Salvatore.
“What do you mean secured?”
“For his own safety.”
“Where is he?”
Pause.
Then Price said:
“With me.”
The line ended.
Salvatore stepped closer.
“Where’s Gabriel?”
Sloan could barely speak.
“The federal team moved him.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know.”
Salvatore’s face emptied.
May you like
For the second time in twenty-four hours, his son had been taken.
This time by men wearing badges.
